E-commerce can have a major effect on organization’s logistics. But remember that it is essentially part of the information system. When you look at a company’s website you can see description of its product, send an order and arrange payment- but you still need transport to deliver it. Sometimes, of course, you buy intangibles such as information, software or music, and the website can deliver it. But most products are more tangible, and they need transport. At the heart of logistics are transport vehicles moving goods between suppliers and customers.
The transport industry is very competitive, and large customers can get good deals. They also have the option of running their own fleets if external operators charge too much. Often, however, the rates are fixed by agreement between transport companies, government policies, or monopoly suppliers. Transport is one of the most expensive parts of logistics, but users often have little control over it.
A wide range of transportation alternatives exits today for product or raw material movement than ever before. A firm may consider for –hire transportation, private transportation, or variety of contractual arrangements with different transport specialists. Service option includes changes in billing, information availability, product liability, and pickup and delivery practices. Carriers and shippers now have the flexibility to negotiate responsibility for all transportation related activities.
TRANSPORTATION FUNCTIONALITY:
Transportation functionality means the effectiveness of transportation process or whether the transportation achieves its objective or not. The basic objective of transportation management is movement of products from one place to another. The functionality or utility of transportation can be measured in how small a time the movement of product can be achieved. It also treats as temporary storage for products during the cycle of movement.
Transportation is one of the most visible elements of logistics operations. Customers are accustomised to seeing trucks and trains moving product or parked at a distribution facility. While this experience provides a good visual understanding of transportation elements, it does not allow the necessary depth of knowledge to understand transportation role in logistics operations.
There are two measures for Transportation Functionality:
1] Product movement:
Movement of any type of product for e.g. Raw materials, work in progress or Finished Goods is to be done only when it ads any kind of value to the organization. Raw material should be moved from one place to another only when they are needed for the reason of production or if they are needed as buffer stock. Like that only Finished Goods should be moved only when they are required at a supply center. Unrequited movement of any kind of product should be neglected. Movements should act value to the company.
Transportation involves the use of temporal resource because product is inaccessible during the transportation process. Such product, commonly referred to as in- transit inventory, is becoming a significant consideration as a variety of supply chain strategy such as JIT reduce manufacturing and distribution centers inventories and so on.
The major objective of transportation is to move product from an origin location to a prescribed destination while minimizing temporal, financial and environmental resource costs.
2] Product Storage:
Transportation treats as a storage facility while the movements of products especially in transit storage. The objective behind transit storage facility is to confirm safety and protection of products, so that the products are not damaged during the process of transportation. In circumstances where warehouses space is limited, utilizing transportation vehicles is a viable option.
One method involves loading product on the vehicle and then having a take a indirect route to its destination. With an indirect route, transit time is greater than with a more direct route. This is desirable when the origin or destination warehouse has limited storage capacity. A second method is to achieve temporary product storage is diversion. When an original shipment destination is changed, the delivery is in transit.
Product storage in transportation vehicles can be costly, it may be justified from a total-cost or performance perspective when loading or unloading costs, capacity constraints, or the ability to extend lead times are considered.
Hence we can say that Transportation functionality is in existence only if all unrequited products movements are being avoided and materials are delivered to the needed destination at the time.
The transport industry is very competitive, and large customers can get good deals. They also have the option of running their own fleets if external operators charge too much. Often, however, the rates are fixed by agreement between transport companies, government policies, or monopoly suppliers. Transport is one of the most expensive parts of logistics, but users often have little control over it.
A wide range of transportation alternatives exits today for product or raw material movement than ever before. A firm may consider for –hire transportation, private transportation, or variety of contractual arrangements with different transport specialists. Service option includes changes in billing, information availability, product liability, and pickup and delivery practices. Carriers and shippers now have the flexibility to negotiate responsibility for all transportation related activities.
TRANSPORTATION FUNCTIONALITY:
Transportation functionality means the effectiveness of transportation process or whether the transportation achieves its objective or not. The basic objective of transportation management is movement of products from one place to another. The functionality or utility of transportation can be measured in how small a time the movement of product can be achieved. It also treats as temporary storage for products during the cycle of movement.
Transportation is one of the most visible elements of logistics operations. Customers are accustomised to seeing trucks and trains moving product or parked at a distribution facility. While this experience provides a good visual understanding of transportation elements, it does not allow the necessary depth of knowledge to understand transportation role in logistics operations.
There are two measures for Transportation Functionality:
1] Product movement:
Movement of any type of product for e.g. Raw materials, work in progress or Finished Goods is to be done only when it ads any kind of value to the organization. Raw material should be moved from one place to another only when they are needed for the reason of production or if they are needed as buffer stock. Like that only Finished Goods should be moved only when they are required at a supply center. Unrequited movement of any kind of product should be neglected. Movements should act value to the company.
Transportation involves the use of temporal resource because product is inaccessible during the transportation process. Such product, commonly referred to as in- transit inventory, is becoming a significant consideration as a variety of supply chain strategy such as JIT reduce manufacturing and distribution centers inventories and so on.
The major objective of transportation is to move product from an origin location to a prescribed destination while minimizing temporal, financial and environmental resource costs.
2] Product Storage:
Transportation treats as a storage facility while the movements of products especially in transit storage. The objective behind transit storage facility is to confirm safety and protection of products, so that the products are not damaged during the process of transportation. In circumstances where warehouses space is limited, utilizing transportation vehicles is a viable option.
One method involves loading product on the vehicle and then having a take a indirect route to its destination. With an indirect route, transit time is greater than with a more direct route. This is desirable when the origin or destination warehouse has limited storage capacity. A second method is to achieve temporary product storage is diversion. When an original shipment destination is changed, the delivery is in transit.
Product storage in transportation vehicles can be costly, it may be justified from a total-cost or performance perspective when loading or unloading costs, capacity constraints, or the ability to extend lead times are considered.
Hence we can say that Transportation functionality is in existence only if all unrequited products movements are being avoided and materials are delivered to the needed destination at the time.